


Bite Worse Than Bark

by connorssock



Series: Prompt Fills [21]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Blood Poisoning, Gavin Reed Whump, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, People actually caring for Gavin, Small yappy dog bite, Squint to see Reed900, reedemption, sepsis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 21:20:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20316181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/connorssock/pseuds/connorssock
Summary: For the prompt: Hiii! Do you take prompts? I love how good you writing Gavin suffering because awful colleagues and thought what if a dog bit him on the case but his temporary partner (Nines and Connor is away for a few hours to checkup at a technician) makes fun of it and him at the station telling a dog made him running around, and people just laugh at him so he doesn't tell anybody he was bitten, thinking he'll go to check it out after work but he had to stay in the night too, then collapsing from some infection from the bite & almost dying on spot but the androids just arriving back from their check up and they're able to analyse his blood and do some badass medical technique which keeps Gavin alive until the ambulance arrives. Can we get protective Fowler and Hank and Nines mad at the temporary guy?





	Bite Worse Than Bark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LugiaDepression](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LugiaDepression/gifts).

Maintenance day was twice a year and Gavin usually rolled his eyes at it. Humans only needed a physical on an annual basis so of course androids had to be super special and do it more often. On those days, they also brought in temp staff for support because half the staff were androids. That was how Gavin got saddled with Robson. A whining, lazy, good for nothing bully. Even at his worst, Gavin had been better than that. At least he had a proven track record and was good at his job. Robson only had a shitty attitude to his name.

They had been called out to interview a potential witness who thought she saw something relating to a case. Gavin took lead and rang the doorbell to the large house. The door opened amidst yapping and Gavin jumped back as a teacup chihuahua ran at his legs.

“Oh, you scared her! Just offer her your hand to sniff,” the woman said in the way of greeting.

Next to Gavin, Robson was red in the face and all but howling with laughter as he watched the way the dog was running and trying to sink its teeth into his ankle. Thankfully his jeans were thick enough to protect him and he was not going anywhere near the beast with his hands. In the end, the woman scooped her precious pooch and and shoved her in Gavin’s face. He hopped back much to Robson’s entertainment but he wasn’t quick enough. Needle like teeth sunk into meaty side of his hand and he yanked it away with a hiss. Shaking his hand, he gave a forced smile to the woman.

“Perhaps we could take a statement inside?” he asked, keen to just get everything over and done with.

It was a wasted trip. The woman didn’t see much more than a shadow in an alley which didn’t amount to much. Especially when it wasn’t even near the site of the murder Gavin was investigating. Getting back to the precinct, Gavin looked at his hand and frowned. The small puncture wounds were red and hot to touch, he had half a mind to ask one of the first aiders to look at it for him.

“Hey everyone, guess what!” Robson hollered at the top of his lungs as soon as they were in the bullpen. “This sour idiot got schooled today. Ran around like a little girl. You’d have thought a Rottweiler was trying to rip his throat out. But no! It was the world’s tiniest, little girly chihuahua. He even screamed!”

Laughter went up as people looked at Gavin. “Shut up, I didn’t scream.”

He rubbed his hand and winced. The way people were eyeing him, Collins walking past with a high pitched “woof” made him reluctant to admit that not only had the chihuahua charged at him, but also managed to get a bite in.

Resigned to his fate, he settled at his desk and began to fill out the report. In the incidents section, he did put in that the dog was unfriendly and prone to biting. That was going to have to be enough, people could infer what they want from that. His hand ached, fingers refused to bend as he tried to type. A glance revealed that it was slightly swollen. On par for the course really, he would take a couple of pain killers and anti-inflammatories when he got home. Until then, he could deal and not give anyone the satisfaction of admitting that a tiny creature that he wouldn’t even call a dog had gotten the better of him.

By the end of the day, Robson was still barking and yapping away, making jokes about becoming a tiny werewolf. Frankly, Gavin was tired of it. He was exhausted on the whole, the afternoon’s coffee had made his stomach churn. It didn’t help that the end of his shirt was digging into his wrist where it had swollen up. Rather than head home, he was going to take a trip to the hospital to get it checked out.

Pushing away from his desk, Gavin was going to leave when Fowler appeared by his desk.

“Any chance of some overtime? There’s a new case that’s come in. Crime scene was secured and checked out already, we need to piece the information together though. It’s likely linked to the Caulder case. A fair few others are staying, it’s a big job.”

Sighing, Gavin sat back down and nodded. He could power through.The pat to his shoulder was an unwelcome touch somehow. Shrugging out of his sweater, Gavin stared at the files. As the hours wore on, the words began to swim. He blamed it on fatigue, on age, on just feeling a bit sorry for himself.

Looking up, he watched as Nines and Connor returned to the precinct. They were all smiles and relaxed, a very different look to how humans returned from their annual health checks. Gavin shot them a tight smile and tried to focus back on the case at hand. He knew he needed to do something. Everything was a blur though and he was pretty certain that he hadn’t just read a case which involved a centipede. Standing up was a mistake. If he thought he had felt like crap before, it was nothing compared to the way the world swayed around him, his muscles screamed.

“Nines?” he slurred before it all became too much.

From the other side of the desk, Nines had watched Gavin get up and sway dangerously. The noise he made could have been his name or just a hiss of air but then Gavin was falling down, crashing into the ground with a sickening thump.

“Captain!” Nines was calling instantly and leaping to help Gavin who was convulsing on the floor. His muscles were locked tight, lips curled into a pained grimace which wasn’t letting up.

“What’s going-oh shit!” Fowler was next to Nines in an instant, just in time for Gavin to start choking. Rolling him onto his side, they tried to hold him there even has he coughed and spit trickled from his mouth.

Meanwhile, Hank and Connor were ushering everyone out into the meeting room and closing the door behind them before returning to the others.

“Ambulance is on its way, do we know what happened?”

“Low temperature, low blood pressure, seizure, rapid breathing. I would say septicaemia is a likely option. Has Gavin been injured at all?”

“Robson!” Fowler yelled and stood up, meeting him half way across the bullpen. He started quizzing him rapidly while Hank took his place, kneeling in front of Gavin. At least the seizure seemed to be stopping, the coughing more conscious.

“Gavin?” Hank asked softly. His eyes caught on his swollen hand. Silently, he pointed to it and watched as Connor and Nines both scanned it with a frown. “Do you know where you are?”

Eyes half shut and unfocused, Gavin shook his head.

“Okay, that’s fine. You’re safe and help is on the way. Do you know who I am?”

The nodding descended into painful sounding coughs as Gavin tried to clear his airway. He had twisted half onto his front, hand clearly visible for all the world to see the bite. Wincing, Hank called to Fowler who was in the middle of berating Robson.

“He got bitten by the dog. You know anything about this?”

The excuses came hard and fast from Robson, trying to worm his way out of any responsibility or wrong doing. He hadn’t known Gavin had been bitten, otherwise he wouldn’t have made fun of him. That was a mistake and Fowler’s frown deepened.

“Get out. I don’t want you working in my precinct ever again, endangering my subordinates with such callous behaviour. Your agency will be sure to know of this incident.”

Returning to Gavin’s side, Fowler brushed a hand through his hair gently.

“You’re alright, Gav,” he murmured softly, watching the way Gavin sagged into his touch.

Thankfully, the ambulance arrived soon and Gavin was carted out of the bullpen by some very serious looking EMTs. News of what had happened spread through the precinct rapidly after that, Gavin’s hospital stay ended up being just over a week. The sepsis had been caught just about in time but he needed to take it easy for a little while longer. Most people flitted through his hospital room at visiting hours, nobody mentioned dogs in any way. Even Hank was reluctant to talk about Sumo until Gavin grumbled at him about missing stories about the big lug.

When he returned to work, two weeks of desk duty before being allowed back out into the field, Nines greeted him with a soft smile and a coffee on his desk.

“Welcome back, Detective, it’s nice to have you here again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ever so slowly plodding through prompts on tumblr - @connorssock


End file.
